Brian Groder, composer, trumpeter, and ensemble leader

is rapidly becoming known as one of the most original jazz voices of his generation.

Equally fluent on trumpet and flugelhorn, Groder draws on the entire jazz tradition, as well as world music influences, to create the music Cadence magazine has hailed as "tender and well delivered, with subtle and unexpected rhythmic responses."

Groder's preference for working with other composer/performers gives his brand of modern progressive jazz unique improvisatory richness and depth.

For performances and recordings of the Brian Groder Ensemble, founded in the early 1990's, Groder chooses from a pool of talented musicians, including core members Francesca Tanksley, acclaimed pianist and composer (Billy Harper Quintet, Erica Lindsay, David Newman, Cecil Payne), and percussionist, composer and solo artist Newman Taylor Baker (Benny Powell, Ahmad Jamal, Dewey Redman, Henry Threadgill). The Ensemble has performed throughout the country, including the Cape May Jazz Festival, the Orlando Fringe Festival, the Rittenhouse Square Arts Festival, and, in New York, at Visiones, The Knitting Factory, and the Cornelia Street Café, among others.

Brian's list of jazz cohorts includes an enviable collection of players from all segments of the jazz spectrum; Katsuyuki Itakura, Blaise Siwula, John McLellan, Jackson Krall, Albey Balgochian, JD Parran, Taylor Ho Bynum, Andrew Lamb, Amanda Butterfield, Kevin Kuhn, and Andy McKee are just a few of the musicians who have shared a stage or recording session with Mr. Groder.

The Brian Groder Ensemble's first CD, Ancestral Tongues, received special commendation from critic Andy Bartlett for the beauty of the ballads and the compelling solo work from all." Subsequent recordings, Perihelion and Incantations, drew critical praise in Europe and Japan, becoming staples on The National Radio Show in the Netherlands. New this fall is Torque, a CD featuring Groder with the legendary composer/performer Sam Rivers and his trio.

In May, 2006, the Ensemble premiered Groder's new three movement Suite for Dance for choreographer/dancer Cherylyn Lavagnino at Danspace in St. Mark's in New York City, which the Village Voice called "a brave experiment" and "strikingly beautiful". For the score of the Orlando International Fringe Festival production of Solos by Joseph Reed Hayes, Brian composed progressive compositions that were contemporary and yet conveyed the flavor of every jazz scene from the 1940s to present day.

Brian has worked with guitar great Dennis Sandole (composition teacher to John Coltrane and others) and continues to work and write with the legendary Joanne Brackeen. A New York native, Groder comes by his musical abilities honestly. Both his parents were working musicians during the Swing Era. During the 80's, Brian Groder performed with the Atlantic City house bands of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr., and, like his record-mate Rivers, has toured with Joe Cocker.

His work includes original film soundtracks and multi-media presentations, and he has received a number of awards for his composition, including two fellowships to the Atlantic Arts Center in Florida, where he had the opportunity to work with Cecil Taylor, and a Composer's Assistance Award from the American Music Center for his Suite for Dance.

BRIAN GRODER + SAM RIVERS TRIO - Torque (Latham 5106)

"The axis on which this session rotates is the superb rhythm section of bassist Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole. That said, Torque is likewise an intergenerational jazz jaunt that works exceptionally well due to several factors: the extreme level of comfort that flutist/saxophonist Sam Rivers has with this rhythm section; the fact that Rivers, at the age of 83, can still blow away just about anybody; and compositional skills of the driving force behind this date "
Jazz-NY

"Groder converses very beautifully with the trio. Without exaggeration, this is one of the better recent samples of avant-garde jazz."
Radiophone Greece

"Venturesome ears may not find this disc easily but it's worth a search — a searching young trumpet player playing with the Sam Rivers Trio in a fairly gripping program of neo-expressionist jazz that has no difficulty modulating occasionally into good old-fashioned bebop. That's why a smart young musician might search out Rivers in the first place. He's a grandfather figure outside but he knows what to do in the pocket, too."
Jeff Simon, Buffalo News